Gearbox maladies with happy ending Posted by Grant on August 18, 1998 at 22:35:15:
Not a problem to be solved, but may help someone, or just interesting tale...Driving down the road in my IIA (agent orange), I changed into third and almost leapt ou the window as a horrible clanging erupted from the floor. Drove around the block and home, through all the gears to try and pinpoint problem, and apart from noise drive was fine. Went away when clutch depressed though. Got home, crawled under - nothing stuck in propshaft, UJs OK, nothing loose. Pulled floor off and tested with T/Box in neutral, noise evident. AHA! I thought - Gearbox. Put box in neutral, noise evident. AHA! Clutch!?? After further investigation could find nothing wrong with either clutch operation or gearbox (apart from noise- all gears drove, no clash in selection, easy changes). Removed floor and pulled gearbox, hoping it would be the clutch. No such luck. Dismantled main gearbox to find that layshaft had almost cracked through at rear (in front of 1st gear) and was flexing, causing the horrid noise. Unusual in that the box was still performing perfectly, although local landrover specialists told me that it probably would have gone completely within a few miles. All the other gears,shafts and bearings are as new, and box hasn't been touched for at least 4-5 years, used as sawmill hack for 4 of them and off-roaded to within an inch of it's life subsequently. |
